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(06/14/2008) - The International Skating Union (ISU) announced the dates, locations and skater selections for the 2008-09 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series on Saturday morning at a meeting in Monaco.

The GP Series, now in its 14th season, includes six events that are held in six countries all over the world. Skaters acquire points through their finish in each appearance, and at the end of the six competitions, the top-six finishers in ladies, men's, pairs and ice dancing will head to the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, to be held Dec. 10-14 in Seoul, Korea.

There are several interesting match-ups in this year's pairings, and they will make for thrilling competitions throughout the season. Icenetwork.com gives you a snapshot of the upcoming season.

But the top competition will not be coming from the States alone. World bronze medalist Yu-Na Kim will be making her first career appearance at Skate America. Two of Japan's best ladies, 2007 world champion Miki Ando and Yukari Nakano, will add to the intense ladies competition.

Like the Americans at Skate America, the Canadians will be sending a very strong group to their home event, headlined by world champion Jeffrey Buttle. He will have to fight for the men's gold, though, because he'll be joined by countryman Patrick Chan, who wrestled away the Canadian national title last January. Two-time world champion Stéphane Lambiel will make his first appearance under new coaches Galina Zmievskaya and Viktor Petrenko. Lysacek will also be in Ottawa, competing for the second straight week.

The French skaters take center stage in Paris, with world silver medalist Brian Joubert opening his 2008-09 season alongside countryman Alban Préaubert. Lambiel will make his second appearance of the season, and Chan will try to defend his surprising Paris title from '07.

World champion Mao Asada will make her 2008-09 Grand Prix debut in Paris, and she'll face competition for the podium from Rochette, Zhang and Emily Hughes, for whom this will be the only Grand Prix event of the season.

World champions Savchenko and Szolkowy will be skating for the second time, and they are the cream of the pairs crop in France. A trio of French teams will try to skate well in front of the home crowd, while Russia's Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov will try to crash the party with Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin.

Here are the full assignments:

Trophee Eric Bompard  Paris, France  Nov. 14-16

Ladies

Men

Pairs

Ice Dancing

Joannie Rochette, CAN

Patrick Chan, CAN

Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin, CAN

Kristin Fraser and Igor Lukanin, AZE

Binshu Xu, CHN

Jinlin Guan, CHN

Huibo Dong and Yiming Wu, CHN

Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, CAN

Kiira Korpi, FIN

Brian Joubert, FRA

Adeline Canac and Maximin Coia, FRA

Zoe Blanc and Pierre-Loup Bouquet, FRA

Candice Didier, FRA

Kim Lucine, FRA

Mélodie Châtaigner and Medhi Bouzzine, FRA

Pernelle Carron and Mathieu Jost, FRA

Gwendoline Didier, FRA

Alban Préaubert, FRA

Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur, FRA

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder, FRA

Elene Gedevanishvili, GEO

Peter Liebers, GER

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, GER

Sinead Kerr and John Kerr, GBR

Valentina Marchei, ITA

Takahiko Kozuka, JPN

Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, RUS

Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali, ITA

Mao Asada, JPN

Andrei Griazev, RUS

Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent, USA

Maria Monko and Ilia Tkachenko, RUS

Emily Hughes, USA

Gregor Urbas, SLO

Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer, RUS

Bebe Liang, USA

Stéphane Lambiel, SUI

Jennifer Wester and Daniil Barantsev, USA

Caroline Zhang, USA

Ryan Bradley, USA

Anastasia Gimazetdinova, UZB

Brandon Mroz, USA

Cup of Russia
Nov. 20-23, 2008
Moscow, Russia

The Russians get the home-ice advantage in Moscow, and their top two dance teams will be there to try to benefit from it. Domnina and Shabalin and Khokhlova and Novitski will each be performing for the second time on the GP circuit. U.S. silver medalists Davis and White, as well as the Israeli brother-and-sister duo, Alexandra Zaretski and Roman Zaretski, will add depth to the field.

In pairs, Kawaguchi and Smirnov will square off with one of China's top teams, Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang. 2007 U.S. champions Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski, skating for the second time in 2008-09, will be trying for the first Grand Prix podium of their young careers.

Italy's Kostner will headline the ladies field, with Switzerland's Meier and America's Flatt and Meissner providing the competition.

European champion Verner and 2007 world champion Joubert will lead the men in Moscow, but Russian champion Voronov will hope to grab gold in the Motherland. Belgium's Kevin van der Perren will also have a shot at the podium.

Here are the full assignments:

Cup of Russia  Moscow, Russia  Nov. 20-23

Ladies

Men

Pairs

Ice Dancing

Elena Glebova, EST

Kevin van der Perren, BEL

Monica Pisotta and Michael Stewart, CAN

Allie Hann-McCurdy and Michael Coreno, CAN

Jenni Vähämaa, FIN

Vaughn Chipeur, CAN

Amanda Velenosi and Mark Fernandez, CAN

Zoe Blanc and Pierre-Loup Bouquet, FRA

Julia Sebestyen, HUN

Chengjiang Li, CHN

Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang, CHN

Alexandra Zaretski and Roman Zaretski, ISR

Carolina Kostner, ITA

Tomas Verner, CZE

Lubov Iliushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze, RUS

Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte, ITA

Fumie Suguri, JPN

Brian Joubert, FRA

Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov, RUS

Katherine Copely and Deividas Stagniunas, LTU

Nana Takeda, JPN

Alban Préaubert, FRA

Arina Ushakova and Sergei Karev, RUS

Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin, RUS

Ksenia Doronina, RUS

Artem Borodulin, RUS

Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov, UKR

Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski, RUS

Nina Petushkova, RUS

Alexander Uspenski, RUS

Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski, USA

Natalia Mikhailova andArkadi Sergeev, RUS

TBA, RUS

Sergei Voronov, RUS

Anna Zadorozhniuk and Sergei Verbillo, UKR

Sarah Meier, SUI

Kristoffer Berntsson, SWE

Meryl Davis and Charlie White, USA

Rachael Flatt, USA

Jeremy Abbott, USA

Kimberly Meissner, USA

Adam Rippon, USA

NHK Trophy
Nov. 27-30, 2008
Tokyo, Japan

World champion Asada and Four Continents champion Takahashi lead the Japanese contingent at the NHK Trophy. Asada will be chased by countrywoman Nakano in the ladies event. U.S. champion Nagasu will be joined by teammates Ashley Wagner and Katrina Hacker, and they will all compete for the podium.

Takahashi will be joined Nobunari Oda, who will be making his first Grand Prix appearance since his DUI in the summer of 2007. Also appearing in Tokyo and fighting for the podium will be Americans Weir and Carriere.

China's Pang and Tong and Canada's Dubé and Davison will be the favorites in the pairs competition, with veterans Inoue and Baldwin of the U.S. their main competition.

Canada will also have the leading dance team in Japan -- Virtue and Moir. There will be strong competition for the podium, though, from France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, Italy's Faiella and Scali, and America's Navarro and Bommentre and Samuelson and Bates.